"I underestimated Frida," Alex admitted. He used to believe that Frida's fighting style couldn't match his own. Most of the magus from the Horizon family possessed the ability to fly, and the higher their level, the more superior their flying duration, speed, and maneuvering skills in the air.
Frida's sword fighting skills were excellent, and her learned magic techniques made her swordsmanship almost invincible compared to magus at the same level as her. She had magnificent movement technique skills. However, in theory, as long as Alex didn't let Frida approach him, her threat would be minimized.
Although she could still attack from a distance, Frida's long-range attacks were limited. Alex's flying ability was a natural counter to Frida's fighting style.
But things were not as perfect as Alex had imagined. His flying ability consumed a lot of mana. Furthermore, he was currently in a room that limited his ability to fly freely.
Not only that, but Alex's attacks against the Impersonator were also ineffective. The Impersonator always easily dodged Alex's attacks. Although there were a few moments where it couldn't evade them, the Impersonator could withstand them with its magic defense techniques. The last problem was that Alex's mana was almost depleted, while the Impersonator seemed to have an unlimited supply.
Alex took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. He pulled a small box from his pocket and opened it to reveal a gray pill inside. He swallowed it immediately.
The pill was a mana-recovering pill that could restore a significant amount of mana instantly. Even for a beginner magus, this item was valuable enough. The pill was enough to refill Alex's almost depleted mana to full.
"Now is the time to use the forbidden technique, magic technique level 0.5," Alex declared.
Apprentice magus could not use magic technique level 1. The reason was not that their mana was insufficient to use magic technique level 1. In fact, the amount of mana that an apprentice magus stage two possessed was enough to use magic technique level 1.
The real reason was that using magic technique level 1 at the apprentice magus level would only destroy someone's magic heart core. Once the magic heart core was destroyed, the person would become an ordinary human again. Moreover, there was a high probability that those whose magic heart core was destroyed would never be able to form another magic heart core again in their lifetime.
In short, their ability to become magus again was lost.
However, human ambition knows no bounds. Over thousands of years of experimentation, they finally found a way for apprentice magus to use magic technique level 1 without risking death. This achievement came after a great deal of effort.
Magic technique level 0.5 was developed, possessing about 70% of the power of magic technique level 1. In addition, the chance of an apprentice magus destroying their magic heart core was reduced to 20%. Although this was not a real level 1 magic technique, but its strength was enough to surpass all magic techniques level 0. Magic techniques level 0.5 was often called fake magic technique level 1.
However, this forbidden technique still carried risks. Although it would not destroy the magic heart core, using the technique would cause slight damage to an apprentice magus's magic heart core.
Consequently, an apprentice magus's advancement is hindered. Furthermore, the greater the usage of this technique, the higher the risk of damaging the magic heart core.
Alex joined his palms together and began to chant the magic spelling. Mana slowly flowed out of Alex's palms and gradually gathered into a small blue ball, creating a gentle whirlwind around it. As Alex continued chanting, he injected more mana into the blue ball. At that moment, The Impersonator detected a dangerous aura emanating from the blue ball. It immediately rushed towards Alex, lifting its sword.
The Impersonator swung its sword with all it might, but the sword was deflected by a strong gust of wind that swirled around Alex's body. The Impersonator didn't give up, the fake Frida attacked Alex repeatedly, but the whirlwind that protected Alex was impenetrable.
"You won't be able to break through this barrier," said Alex, observing the Impersonator's effort. Although Frida was strong, Alex didn't believe she could overcome magic technique level 0.5.
However, as the Impersonator realized that normal attacks couldn't penetrate the barrier that protected Alex, it lifted the sword vertically. At that moment, Alex felt a terrific aura emanating from the sword.
"No-no, a level 0 magic attack won't be able to break through this barrier. I have to complete this blue ball immediately." With a panicked face, Alex attempted to ignore the Impersonator and continued infusing mana into the small blue ball between his palms.
A white-gold aura gradually radiated from the Impersonator's sword. After a few moments, a golden light soared straight towards the sky. A tremendous amount of mana emanated from the sword. Alex sensed an incredible danger from the sword that the Impersonator was lifting. He whispered in fear, "D-don't tell me she can also use magic technique level 0.5!"
If it were the real Frida, she might hesitate to use such a technique. Nevertheless, since her life was not in danger, there was no need to take such a risky approach. However, the Impersonator was different. As a wooden puppet, it had no qualms about using dangerous techniques.
With a swing of his sword, emitting a white-golden light, the Impersonator collided with the wind barrier that protected Alex. The clash of these two level 0.5 magic techniques created chaos in the entire room. "Damn it, I have to finish this quickly," Alex quickly infused mana into the blue sphere between his palms.
Meanwhile, the Impersonator reinforced his sword thrust, slowly penetrating Alex's wind barrier. The golden light on the sword became brighter, forcing Alex to close his eyes, and the resulting explosion shook the entire room.
The Impersonator's attack successfully broke through the wind barrier around Alex's body. However, Alex was fortunate enough to complete his magic technique before the Impersonator could injure him.
Excel's older brother utilized the blue sphere surrounded by two cyan rings to block the Impersonator's sword swing. The two objects collided, creating a strong gust of wind that spread to the walls, leaving marks on them.
[Holy Sword Technique: Excalibur] was a magic technique currently used by the Impersonator. This was one of the [Holy Sword Technique] series, which is a level 0.5 magic technique series that Frida knows. This technique was a level 0.5 magic technique with the strongest offensive ability Frida knows. It's a pity, even though it was compelling, it was still inferior when compared to Alex's magic technique, which was [Storm Center: Blue Hazard].
The sword failed to destroy the blue sphere and instead flew up, lodging itself in the ceiling. The blue sphere then shot forward and hit the Impersonator, pushing it back until the wooden puppet hit the wall behind it.
The ball then exploded, producing a very noisy sound and also a very violent gust of wind. The Impersonator was in the middle of the whirlwind. The wind knives turned and gave incision after incision to the fake Frida's body. The Impersonator's body was like being in the middle of a blender. Seconds passed, the wounds on the Impersonator's body continued to grow until finally all parts of its body were dismembered.
The sight destroyed the worry and stress accumulated in Alex. He exhaled and smiled faintly.
"It's finally done," the young man murmured.
Suddenly, he felt a pain in his chest. Alex lowered his head and saw a sharp sword tip protruding out of his chest. The young man forced himself to look back. He saw the figure of Frida, who should have died.
"W-why are you still alive?" asked Alex, who didn't understand what was going on.
"Thank you for killing that creature," Frida replied curtly.
Alex turns to look at the Impersonator's corpse. He was surprised to see that it was not Frida, but a wooden puppet that had been dismembered.